William Lewis Safir (William Safire) Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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A simple life is good with me. I don't need a whole lot. For me, a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, barefoot on a beach and I'm happy.
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I grew up in Cyprus and Egypt, these fantastic places I remember fondly.
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In writing about Harold and Maureen with their terrible unspoken secret, and all those people that Harold meets as he walks to save a friend's life, I was trying to celebrate the ordinary people.
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People are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
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If you have multiples of anything, you have the possibility of repetition. Repetition creates pattern and also unity. Put anyone in a room with a pile of similar objects and say, 'I want a pattern by 3 P.M. or no dinner.' Anyone would come up with a design. It is easy, fun and available to anybody. Most people just don't have the nerve.
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The cause of our difficulties in southeast Asia is not a deficiency of power but an excess of the wrong kind of power which results in a feeling of impotence when it fails to achieve its desired ends.
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What I don't miss is living in a small town where everybody knows you, your family, and what you ate for breakfast.
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When I first got Yves Saint Laurent Couture, I didn't know how to take off a cape. I would ask Katoucha and Dalma - the real divas of the runway - 'Can you show me?' I've never been afraid to ask for help.
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Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.
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I think the colleges should be free to give athletes less than a full scholarship, no scholarship and more than a scholarship. And the athletes should be free to bargain.
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If I could gain 1,000 pounds and be healthy, I would love to do that.
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Even though I resigned as Papandreou's adviser early in 2006 and turned into his government's staunchest critic during his mishandling of the post-2009 Greek implosion, my public interventions in the debate on Greece and Europe have carried no whiff of Marxism.
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Normally I don't watch myself, because I'm not very objective.
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The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you're working with a really good photographer.
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What bothers me, I guess, is when I get these messages from girls on Twitter, and they're like, 'God, you're my idol, I really admire you.' It's like, 'Admire me for what? What have I done?' It's not that being in a Burberry campaign, or walking in a Chanel show is nothing. It's just... I know I can do more.
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I never read my reviews... not even the good ones. Barbra Streisand once told me, if just one person in the audience doesn't applaud, it bothers her. I'm the same way. I'd be devastated to read that someone didn't like my work.
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It used to be that I wanted to be taller. Once I made 5-foot-1, I was happy.
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I use debit cards for everyday purchases, as I don't believe in credit cards. But this has caused problems, especially with American touring, because I refuse to have a credit card - and in America you can't pay for anything on a debit card.
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Historically, the notes of scale systems anywhere have been based on these pure harmonics.
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When I was at university in the Fifties, Latin America was full of dictators. Trujillo was the emblematic figure because, of course, of his cruelty, corruption, extravagance, and theatricalities.
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Most of my interests in terms of writing are dark, so it's discordant how much I try to lock into the vibe of wherever I'm at. Inhabiting the life of the imagination is the nature of survival strategy - you build yourself little worlds to enjoy.
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After all, what bit of money I’ve made has been made among mosquitoes and sand-flies, snakes in the bedroom, long monotonous damp heat, boredom, exasperation with native clerks. Who are these sweet stay-at-homes, sweet well-contents, to try and suck it out of me and feel aggrieved if they can’t have it?
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The true battlefield is within.
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If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
